# In Another Country explained — Short Fiction > Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Ernest Hemingway. ## What happens The narrator, an American soldier in Milan during World War I, reflects on his rehabilitation at a hospital with other wounded soldiers. He describes the camaraderie and detachment among them, his own feelings of inadequacy compared to the Italian soldiers with more distinguished medals, and his interactions with a major who was once a great fencer. The major, grieving the sudden death of his young wife, angrily advises against marriage, revealing his deep despair and inability to resign himself to loss. ## Themes in this chapter ### Post-War Trauma and Alienation The narrator and other soldiers are physically and psychologically wounded, detached from civilian life and from each other, struggling with the meaning of their sacrifices. ### Masculinity and Sexual Anxiety The major's vehement advice against marriage reflects a fear of loss and vulnerability, challenging traditional masculine roles of provider and husband. ### The Absurdity of Authority and Religion The machines are presented as a dubious, almost absurd 'theory' for recovery, and the major's inability to resign himself to his wife's death questions the comfort of faith or fate. ## Character check-ins ### Unknown The American narrator, wounded in war, undergoing physical therapy and grappling with his own fear of death and sense of not belonging among the decorated Italian soldiers. ### The doctor The hospital doctor who operates the rehabilitation machines and encourages the patients, showing before-and-after photographs to instill confidence. ### Rinaldi The major, a former champion fencer, who is bitter about the machines and later devastated by his wife's death, expressing his belief that a man should not marry. ## Key lines > We were all a little detached, and there was nothing that held us together except that we met every afternoon at the hospital. The soldiers shared a bond only through their daily hospital routine, otherwise feeling disconnected from each other and the world. _Highlights the theme of alienation and the fragile camaraderie among the wounded._ > I was a friend, but I was never really one of them after they had read the citations, because it had been different with them and they had done very different things to get their medals. The narrator felt like an outsider among the Italian soldiers once they learned his medals were awarded for being American rather than for heroic acts. _Illustrates the narrator's sense of inadequacy and the divide between him and the other soldiers._ > He cannot marry. He cannot marry. If he is to lose everything, he should not place himself in a position to lose that. The major insists that a man should avoid marriage because the potential loss of a spouse is too devastating to risk. _Reveals the major's grief and his belief in avoiding emotional attachments to prevent future pain._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_15_se/chapters/in-another-country - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_15_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_15_se/chapters